


Oh. Hi.

by kirani



Series: Matt [5]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Jealousy, Light Angst, M/M, Miscommunication, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-16
Updated: 2020-08-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25701523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirani/pseuds/kirani
Summary: Connor Whisk had come up with his soulmate greeting when he was eight years old, but no matter how many people he said it to, no one ever replied with his own mark. He just had to keep looking and try to stop thinking about Matt Johansen.
Relationships: Connor "Whiskey" Whisk/Original Male Character(s), Tony "Tango" Tangredi & Connor "Whiskey" Whisk
Series: Matt [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1230680
Comments: 4
Kudos: 50
Collections: Check Please Heartbreak Fest 2020





	Oh. Hi.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mellifluousmalady](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mellifluousmalady/gifts).



> Hello again mellifluousmalady! I wrote another of your prompts! I actually started this one first and had trouble getting into it and jumped to the other one, but I ended up finding my groove so you get both! This is for the prompt:  
> "soulmate au (i'm especially fond of soulmarks involving first impressions/first contact, but i’m not picky :•}) character A is convinced their soulmark is unrequited/unmatched, character B either can’t figure out who it is or is struggling to come to terms with it being character A. happy ending preferred but not necessary"  
> Unlike eleven blocks, this one is actually quite fluffy and a happy ending! I hope you like it! I attribute the soulmark greeting idea to this [tumblr post](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/landofsaltandshade/188983761421).  
> Thank you to my friend/beta/cheer reader alexei, you are awesome!  
> This is part of a series but is completely standalone, I just like to group all my fics with Whiskey's lacrosse boyfriend together since I am very soft for my headcanons of Matt.

_ My six-toed cat doesn’t pay taxes. _

That was the phrase Connor Whisk said to everyone he met. The first words he would say to his soulmate and the words that would be on their skin. Some people used their name in their greeting but he thought that took the fun out of it. 

He’d picked it out when he was eight years old and never felt any great urge to change it, not even when his six-toed cat Flopsy had died his sophomore year of high school. But he still hadn’t met anyone with it written on their arm.

His own mark was extremely unhelpful.  _ Oh hi _ was all it read, not a proper first time greeting at all! So he just had to hope his greeting was unique enough to alert them of the match. 

His high school girlfriend had not been his soulmate — they’d exchanged their nonsense sentences when they first met, then shrugged and dated anyways. Even if they did have romantic soulmates somewhere who cared? They were sixteen and they liked each other. That was all that mattered then. 

But these days he had a different problem: Matt Johansen. 

They’d met at a party, as college students often did, and he didn’t have a great memory of that night but the two of them had become fast friends. That wasn’t the problem. 

The problem was that Connor had fallen for him. 

Connor had asked, once, what Matt’s mark said and had blushed when he found he quite agreed with the sentiment  _ wow you’re cute _ , and offered his own, even less helpful, mark. They’d laughed and moved on from the topic. Both were waiting for someone else to reply to their unique greetings, apparently. 

That was his line and he was sticking to it. 

But still, he caught himself thinking about Matt all the time; wondering if they had somehow missed their phrases, somehow missed their soulmate connection. Or maybe they weren’t soulmates but they could be romantic partners with other, platonic soulmates. 

Maybe he should just ask him out. 

No, he couldn’t. 

“Is Matt your soulmate?” Tango asked. They were studying in the library and Connor had been spacing out when his phone lit up on the table with a text from Matt himself. 

“I don’t know,” Connor answered, setting down his pen in favor of turning off his phone screen. He wasn’t going to get any work done if Tango was starting down this path anyway.

“You don’t know? What were your first words to him?” Tango asked. 

“I don’t know,” Connor repeated with a sigh. “I was drunk, I don’t remember meeting him.” He’d been through this himself so many times. 

“But you know what his mark says. And it’s not your greeting?” Tango said. He knew it but it sounded like a question anyway. 

“Right. It says ‘wow you’re cute’.”

“That sounds like something you’d say to him drunk though!” Tango exclaimed triumphantly. “What about his?”

“His greeting is “everything and more comes asking for bread”, whatever that means, but my mark just says ‘oh hi,’ which is the least useful mark ever to exist.” Connor rolled his eyes.

“Those happen sometimes though! My nonna told me it’s really common for people to flub their greeting if they hear their soulmark!”

“So either both of us messed up and neither of us remembers, or we’re not soulmates at all and I’m just fucked.” Connor summarized. His crush on Matt wasn’t a secret to Tango, the guy had spotted it a week after Connor and Matt had become friends and solemnly swore not to tell anyone. “Those are awesome options.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” 

“It’s okay,” he mumbled. “We should get back to work.”

“Okay,” Tango allowed. 

_X_

The universe has been cruel to Matt Johansen. While his sister insisted that unrequited soulmate matches were the only stuff of dramatic stories, he was sure he had one. Ever since Connor Whisk had greeted him at a party with a simple “wow you’re cute” to match his soulmark and then proceeded to flaunt his soulmate in front of him.

Okay, he wasn’t really flaunting Tony but it was obvious they were soulmates from the way they had gotten so close so quickly. His first guess was that they’d gone to high school together and been friends for years, that’s how close the freshmen were. But Connor was from Arizona and Tony was from New Jersey and they had just instantly clicked. 

Besides, even if they remained platonic, did Matt really want to date his unrequited soulmate? That seemed like a recipe for disaster. 

Because he’s almost positive he gave his greeting back to Connor, almost certain he’d said “Everything and more comes asking for bread” and had gotten no reaction. To be fair he’d been pretty drunk and didn’t remember a lot of that night, but he was ninety-nine percent sure. Okay, ninety-five. 

It could still be a coincidence, sure, he had a pretty plain soulmark. But what kind of person greeted someone with “wow you’re cute”? Was he supposed to assume someone else would meet him for the first time and blurt out his exact phrase? 

Connor told him later that his greeting was “my six-toed cat doesn’t pay taxes”, he’d come up with it to be unique enough to match to his plain mark. So yeah, they weren’t a match and Matt had an unrequited soulmate. 

He was fine, honest. 

Or at least, he was pretending to be, since he was studying with both of them and Chad L this afternoon. He was the last to arrive and nodded to the other boys as he plopped into a seat at the library table. 

“Hi Matt!” Tony said with a grin. He was always so genuinely happy to see him, it kinda made Matt feel guilty. Because whether they were platonic or romantic, Matt was jealous of his soulmate bond with Connor and it always got in the way of them getting closer. 

“Hey Tony,” Matt said. “Sorry I’m late.”

“No worries,” Connor said with a smile, which Matt returned. He was so cute when he smiled.

God, he was fucked.

“Good game last night,” Connor continued as Matt pulled out his Calculus textbook. 

“You watched?” he blinked at his friend. 

Connor shrugged and Matt thought his cheeks darkened a bit. 

“Had it on while I did some homework.”

“Cool.” His own cheeks heated up and he cursed his pale skin that he knew was showing his blush clearly. 

Chad jabbed him with an elbow and Matt glared at him. He knew! He was working on it! He forcefully flipped open his book and started on the problem set Professor Riviera had assigned. 

After they’d been working for a while, Tony got up to use the bathroom, and when he’d returned he had tied his button-down around his waist and wore only a tank top. His soulmark was on full display on his bicep and Matt stared at it.

_ A shooting star would kindly inquire something about you. _

“Is that your mark?” Matt asked dumbly, rereading the sentence over again.

“Yeah!” Tony answered. “I haven’t met them yet but I really love the greeting. Do you know someone who uses it?”

“Um, no, I —,” Matt stuttered. “I thought you and Connor were soulmates though?”

Connor choked on air and Tony looked at him in alarm. Connor took a swig of water and cleared his throat. “I’m okay, Tango.”

Tony nodded but his brow was still furrowed in confusion as he and Connor seemed to carry on a silent conversation with only their eyes.

Finally, Connor looked back at Matt. “I told you I hadn’t met my soulmate yet, didn’t I?”

Matt thought back but couldn’t remember that conversation. “I think I’d remember that.”

“No, I did,” Connor insisted. “We were talking about how both of our marks were really basic and you told me you had picked a really weird phrase so you’d be sure and I said I did the same thing.”

“Well, yeah,” Matt answered. “But I thought that Tony had your phrase.”

“Why?” Tony asked. Matt darted a look at him. He’d almost forgotten Tony and Chad were still there.

“You just… seem like soulmates?” He really didn’t have an explanation past that, it was just a gut feeling. 

Connor’s face was unreadable. “I have to go to practice,” Connor said. 

“We’ve got at least an hour —,” Tony began. 

“I have to be there early, let’s go, Tango.” 

Connor stood and stuffed his things into his bag and Tony, after a moment of confused staring, did the same, following Connor out of the library with apologetic waves at Matt and Chad. 

Once the doors closed behind them, Matt turned to Chad. “What just happened?”

“I was gonna ask you the same thing, dude,” Chad said. “I thought  _ you _ and Connor were soulmates.”

“What?” Matt shouted.

Someone shushed them and Matt hunched down, embarrassed. “What?” he repeated quieter. 

“Dude, I was there when you met, remember?”

“You were?” 

“Oh my god, do you not remember meeting him?” Chad asked, a grin spreading across his face. 

“Do not fuck with me, man,” Matt warned. “Look, Connor said my mark, but I didn’t say his. It’s probably just a coincidence.”

“That’s so rare, bro,” Chad said. “And also not what I remember happening at  _ all _ .”

“Spill, Larson.”

“Hang on, I think I have it on video,” Chad said, grabbing his phone from the center of the table. He scrolled through his videos for a minute before finding a dark thumbnail and handing it to Matt with an earbud. 

Matt clicked on the screen and the noise of a party invaded his ear. It was a crowded room with flashing lights that looked vaguely familiar to Matt. On screen, he was screaming lyrics to the song playing along with Chad when someone offscreen but clearly near Chad said “Wow, you’re cute.” He watched as his own mouth fell open and stared over Chad’s shoulder and then said two small words. He could barely hear it in the noisy video but his lips formed the words clearly.

“Oh. Hi.”

A moment passed and then he watched himself blurt out “Everything and more comes asking for bread!” 

“Oh my god,” said Chad in the video, and then it ended.

Matt handed Chad his earbud back and stared unseeing at the frozen last frame of the video. 

“I fucked up so bad, Chad.”

Chad patted his shoulder.

_X_

“Whiskey?” Tango asked after they’d left the library. “What was that about?”

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” Connor mumbled, hoping for once that Tango would let him be.

“Connor.” 

Connor stopped, Tango’s hand on his arm and no-nonsense tone halting his steps. When he looked at his friend, his face brokered no argument. 

“What is going on with you?” 

“I don’t know,” Connor lied. “I just… Why does he have to tease me like this? He has to know I like him. He has to. Why would he say that?”

Tango studied his face for a long moment, then pulled him into a hug. “I don’t think he’s teasing, for what it’s worth. I think he really doesn’t know. He’s your friend, Connor. He wouldn’t hurt you on purpose.”

Connor shook his head into Tango’s shoulder. “I like him so much. Why do I like him so much if we’re not soulmates?”

“You could still be together, you know. You could have platonic soulmates and be each other's romantic partners. That kind of thing happens all the time.”

“I mean, I guess. But he doesn’t seem to think of me like that.”

“You could ask,” Tango offered, but Connor shook his head again. “I don’t think he would be upset, Connor. You guys are really good friends.”

“And what if he completely freaks out?” Connor asked. 

“Then you’ll still have me,” Tango said easily. “But I really don’t think he will. Come on, let’s go to Faber and we can run some extra drills before practice. Get that energy out.”

“Yeah, alright,” Connor agreed, letting Tango swing him out of the hug and down the pathway, one arm still around Connor’s shoulder. 

“And for what it’s worth, I’d be honored if you were my soulmate.”

“Me, too, Tony.”

After practice, Connor pulled his phone out of his bag to find a text from Matt. 

_ Can we talk? _

Connor sighed and showed it to Tango. “You got this,” Tango told him, offering a fist to bump before heading to the showers. Connor tapped out a quick affirmation before following him. 

_ Yeah, you want me to come by the house? _

Matt agreed, and soon Connor and Tango were walking towards frat row together, Tango rambling to keep his mind off the upcoming confrontation. When they reached the lax house, Tango bumped his shoulder. 

“You’re gonna be fine. Just be honest, okay?” 

“Yeah. Thanks Tango,” Connor said, waving as Tango crossed the street to the Haus.

Connor made his way up the steps and knocked hesitantly on the door. There was a time when he would have just walked in but he wasn’t sure where he stood with Matt right now, so he waited. 

The door swung open and there was Matt, unfairly golden in the evening light. 

“Hey,” Connor said. 

“Hey,” Matt said. “Come on in.”

He didn’t mention how weird it was for Connor to knock these days, just led him up to his room. When they had both sat down, Matt on his bed and Connor on the desk chair, Connor took a deep breath. 

“I’m sorry for kinda, uh, running away earlier,” Connor said, figuring he should probably explain that first. “I was just caught really off guard and didn’t know how to handle it. But it wasn’t fair to you.”

“I’m sorry for assuming you and Tony were soulmates. I should have asked,” Matt offered back. 

“Cool. We good?”

“I have something else, actually,” Matt said. 

Connor braced himself. Was he about to be shut down before he even had a chance to ask?

“I think it’s probably easier to show you.” Matt fiddled with his phone and then handed it to Connor.

It was open to a video, the screen mostly black behind the play button. Connor looked up for confirmation, then clicked play. The phone blared to life with the full noise of a lax party with Matt in the center of the frame screaming along to Britney in the flashing lights. He was beautiful. Then, from off screen, his own voice. 

_ “Wow, you’re cute.” _

Matt’s eyes widened and he mouthed two little syllables, barely audible over  _ Toxic _ . 

_ “Oh. Hi.” _

If it weren’t for the music and flashing lights, Connor might have thought the video was over with how still Matt was, but then he burst into action again and shouted  _ “Everything and more comes asking for bread!”  _

_ “Oh my god,”  _ said another voice, closer to the phone mic, before the video ended abruptly.

Connor stared at the phone for a long moment, thoughts racing, before he looked up at Matt. 

“What is this?” he asked at last. 

“Apparently, it’s the first time we met. Chad L took the video. He thought we knew.”

“But, those are our marks,” Connor stammered. “Does that mean… ?”

Matt blushed and shrugged. “It means whatever we want it to mean. But it looks like we’re soulmates.”

“Holy shit,” Connor said. His mind was reeling. This was what he wanted, wasn’t it? Why did he feel so unmoored suddenly?

“Connor?” Matt asked. 

Connor focused on his friend’s — his soulmate’s — face. He looked… scared?

“Is that a good ‘holy shit’?” Matt asked tentatively. 

Connor let himself smile, hope winning out against fear. 

“Yeah, I think it’s a great ‘holy shit’, actually. Are you happy? That it’s, you know, me?”

Matt grinned. “I’m fucking pumped.” 

Connor nodded, trying to figure out how to word his next question. Because he knew what he wanted it to mean, but what did Matt want it to mean?

“I remembered you saying, uh, what you said.”

“That you’re cute,” Connor said, his cheeks heating.

“Yeah. But I thought I said my usual greeting. And then you didn’t have that. I may have been… really drunk.”

“But you didn’t. Not soon enough, at least,” Connor filled in. “You said mine back.”

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

“I didn’t remember any of this,” Connor said, still not sure what Matt really wanted here.

“I figured. But I guess we’re matched?”

“Is that good?” Connor asked, mirroring Matt’s earlier question. 

Matt laughed. “Yeah, I think it’s great.”

“What do you, uh, want to do about it?” Connor asked. He took a deep breath and forced himself to keep his promise to Tango. “Because I’ve been crushing on you pretty much since we met and I’d really like to kiss you right now.” 

Matt turned pale beneath his freckles, then flushed a dark pink. “Really?”

Connor looked down at his hands. “If you don’t wanna that’s fine, I just thought you should know.”

“Oh my god, we are such idiots,” Matt said. Connor looked up to see Matt standing from the bed and crossing to him with confident strides. “I’m like, stupid into you.”

“Really?” Connor asked. 

“Yeah.” Matt grinned as he nodded. “I’ll take that kiss, now.”

Connor lurched to his feet, his hands flying to Matt’s face automatically, cupping his jaw as he brought their lips together.

_X_ 

Kissing Connor was intense. He kissed like he played hockey, a single-minded focus, engaging with his entire body. His hands tilted Matt’s face into his, his body pressing against Matt’s, even the soft breathy noises he let out pulled him in. 

Matt clung onto Connor’s waist and kissed back as well as he could, sparks flying behind closed eyes. 

“Holy shit,” Matt said when they broke apart to breathe. Connor leaned down, his forehead resting against Matt’s, his arms dropping to rest on his shoulders. “We could have been doing that all year.”

Connor laughed and kissed Matt’s forehead. “We figured it out, though. That’s what matters.”

Matt leaned up and kissed him again. “Soulmates, huh? Who’d have thought?”

“I hoped,” Connor admitted.

“Me, too,” Matt agreed. “I thought it was unrequited,” 

Connor blinked down at him, smile slipping. “What?” 

“I remembered you saying it, but didn’t remember the match. So I thought it was unrequited. I was so freaking into you, Connor. I couldn’t imagine it being anything else.”

Connor kissed his forehead again, then his temple, his nose, his eyes, his mouth. 

“I’m so sorry,  _ mi corazón _ ,” Connor murmured. 

“ _ Corazón?”  _ Matt asked. 

“My heart,” Connor blushed. “You’re my soulmate but you’re… you’re  _ you  _ first. And I care for you so much. I wish I could have helped when you were hurting.”

“You’re such a softie,” Matt teased, pushing down three words that threatened to burst out of him and sliding his hand up to Connor’s face and pressing his lips to Connor’s again, pressing his love into the kisses instead. From the way Connor held him close, he could tell he felt it, too. 

“Dinner, soulmate?” Matt asked when they released each other again.

“I’d love to, soulmate,” Connor smiled softly back. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! I'm on tumblr at willdexpoindexter :)


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